Roy Fredericks' big time brutality at Perth
Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, is situated where the Swan river embraces the southeast coast. It is blessed with natural beauty and an easygoing outdoor lifestyle. Bright sunshine, deep blue sea, adventurous landscapes, attractive beaches, festivals and blessed people make Perth one of the most happening places on earth.
Then, at Nelson Crest, East Perth, there lies the WACA cricket ground, which itself has been a spectator of many memorable cricketing incidents for so many years and has been the centre of attraction for the tourists and cricket lovers since Test cricket commenced on this ground.
Since the 1890s, the WACA has been Western Australia's home of cricket. On December 16, 1970, it hosted the first ever Test match and since then, this ground has witnessed some of the most epic battles and eye-catching individual performances which still remain etched in the memories of the cricket lovers.
Traditionally, WACA ground is famous for its pace and bounce as it is regarded as the one of the fastest wickets in the world, but this ground has also gifted some of the best batting performances which are a part of cricket folklore.
A historic day
December 13, 1975. For the first time, the American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Richard Pryor used a time delay, Jane Blalock won the LPGA 14 Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament, the former Soviet Union performed a nuclear test in Kazakh and in the Australian Federal Elections, Liberals with coalition under Malcolm Frasier won largest ever parliamentary majority.
So, December 13, 1975, was not just an ordinary day, but it happened to be quite a significant day to remember and from a cricketing perspective, it was made an unforgettable one by a southpaw from Guyana named Roy Fredericks.
It was summer in Australia and on this day, forty years ago in Perth, Malcolm Fraser, the Prime Minister in a minority coalition government, was caught in a brouhaha outside the Northcote town hall. A bunch of angry mobs spat on him and pelted beer cans at him.
A strike at the Carlton & United breweries triggered fears of a beer drought throughout the country and on December 13, 1975, a fire broke in one of the new skyscrapers being built in downtown and thus, the situation at Perth was chaotic and the skyline turned gloomy by smoke.
West Indies' chance tour Down Under
Amid this rut, Perth was hosting the second Test match between West Indies and Australia.
The West Indies were a young side and under the leadership of Clive Lloyd, they had just won the first ever World Cup by beating Ian Chappell’s Australia at Lord’s few months back in 1975. In the same year, Lloyd and his men toured Down Under for a six-match Test series.
West Indies were not supposed to tour during that time. Instead, it was South Africa who were scheduled to visit, but Australia joined the sporting boycott against apartheid. The Caribbeans were offered to play and fill the empty summer schedule.
West Indies were beaten comprehensively by eight wickets in the first Test at Brisbane and then, they traveled to Perth for the second Test.
This was the only Test match which stood out like an oasis in the desert for the Caribbeans who had a thoroughly miserable tour that was brightened by this one match which hit the headlines due to Roy Fredericks’ murderous knock.
Greg Chappell, Australia’s captain, won the toss and elected to bat first. The West Indian pace bowlers kept on dismissing the Aussie batsmen, but Ian Chappell, free from the cares and pressures of captaincy, played an innings of controlled aggression to help Australia post 329 runs in their first innings.
A young Michael Holding, who was playing in his second Test, picked up four wickets and he finished the Australian innings in the second morning in style – Ian Chappell, Jeff Thomson and Ashley Mallett were castled via sheer pace.